Why didn't they put the likeliness of dying from being killed by a terrorist. Everyone is scared of that, but it would be interesting to see how likely it is (I'm willing to bet it is as likely as a bee sting death).

Actually "dog bite" is the one that surprised me the most.
And it's way too high to be acceptable in a civil society where muzzles for bigger dogs should always be -and often are - mandatory.
And makes me think if the "pit-bull" mania is in any way connected with it... ?

So if there are nearly 7 trillion people in the world, and the risk of anyone being killed by an asteroid is 74 million to 1, then (skipping a few decimals) just over 90 people did die from being hit by an asteroid last year??? Why aren't we being told?! It's a cover up!

The odds are 74 million to 1 or the probability that you will be hit by an asteroid (or meteorite) in your lifetime is 1/74M. This means that if you live 74 million lives (or equivalent to that time), you will be hit once.

This does not mean that out of 74 million people living at the same time 1 will die.

Yes, it does mean exactly that, statistically speaking, at least as much as it means that you are hit once in 74 million lives.

That not 90 were hit last year is just luck. The number of deaths per year varies a lot because large asteroids are rare, but if they hit, a lot of people die. The expectancy value of deaths by asteroid in every single year still is about 90 (assuming the given probability is right).

Thomas, they were not injured by the meteorite, they were injured by the glass that was shattered as a result of the sound wave caused by the meteorite's explosion in the sky. In fact, not even a single case of being injured directly by a piece of meteorite was reported in Russia. Moreover, in the whole recorded history of meteorites only two people (one of them in Britain) have been reported as hit by a meteorite (and I don't know if any of these cases was fatal).

Maybe nobody has been hit in 5000 years, but in 2987 BC, a thriving settlement of 45000 was wiped out. Interpreting probability is relatively straightforward, but it takes some application. The probability of rolling a 1 with dice is 1/6, that doesn't mean every 6 rolls you're going to get a 1. You could just as easily get 6 sixes. How they came up with that specific probability is the big question.
And, luckily, we're a good way off 7 trillion people (like 6.993 trillion off).

Of course, an outlier event, such as a large asteroid hitting earth in the next years and killing everyone, will dramatically change this statistics. In hindsight of the surviving cockroaches, the most likely cause to die for 21st century humans then will be asteroid impact.

Further assuming such an asteroid is on its course to hit our planet, it will not be true to say the chance is only about 1/10^8. Of course, we don't know that NOW, so the chances, using the currently available data, look pretty low. But that only proves that probability is always in the eye of the beholder, a function of our ignorance.

Thank you. I didn't catch THAT in the article. Isn't the Economist great at calculations? or quoting them without thinking? Or me reading them without thinking? It reminds me of the way we (I and my colleagues) used to describe the precision to which we can calculate things: "I can calculate them to eight significant figures, except I don't know where to put the decimal point!"

Poverty death rates have been rising, esp. since the Clinton admin. Infant mortality rates among America's poor have been on the rise while the life expectancy of our poor has fallen below that of some Third World nations. Exposure to cold is noted, as is suicide, which primarily impact the poor. Then we have heat-related deaths, crime, the accumulated impact of prolonged deprivation, lack of medical care, the relentless stress that comes from being in a culture that treats the poor as vermin, etc., etc.On whole, poverty ( which continues to grow, since we cut the rungs off of the proverbial ladder out of poverty), should be high on the death chart.

-Death by drowning
-Death by friendly fire
-Death by death
-Death by statistical analysis
-Death by finding out a prime number having 1.7 billion digits and teachers asking taughts to write it ten times a day, seven days a week and for three months
-Death by delivery